Early bloom may mean early apples in Minnesota

March 30, 2012|By Julie Buntjer

WORTHINGTON, Minn. — In all his years operating Ocheda Orchard south of Worthington, Chuck Nystrom has never seen his apple trees bloom this early in the spring. The early blossoms can be chalked up to unseasonably warm weather, but it leaves apple growers like Nystrom a little nervous about the possibility of a killing freeze. Typically, apple growers don’t reach the freeze-free zone until the first week in May. "If we would just revert to normal weather, we’d be in danger of freezing things," he said. "A lot of times we’ll get a little nip here or there," said Nystrom, adding the last time the orchard experienced major frost damage was in 1971. "We probably lost three-quarters or more of our crop," he recalled. "We had a couple of varieties that bloomed three or four days later than the main bloom, and they were the only ones with a normal crop." Apple trees at Ocheda Orchard reached the silver tip stage between March 15-20, a full month ahead of the long-term average. Checking the 30-day forecast on the National Weather Service website Thursday morning, Nystrom said southern Minnesota temperatures are expected to remain above normal for the month of April. Just seeing that information, he added, offers some sense of relief. Still, until April passes, he will remain a bit nervous. Nystrom said all it will take are temperatures dipping to 24 degrees for a 90 percent kill of his 2012 apple crop. "Even if we went to normal-type weather, our record low is 9 degrees on this date," he said. "Nine degrees would be a 100 percent kill." If a killing frost can be avoided, Nystrom said their apple crop will be an early one this year. The growth cycle depends on growing degree days, requiring a certain amount of heat to bring the crop to harvest. "Generally it runs a given number of days between bloom and maturity," Nystrom said. "That means we’ll be harvesting everything a month earlier this fall. This is uncharted territory -- we don’t know what’s going to happen, marketing wise. We could be harvesting Honey Crisp (apples) in mid-August. Will consumers be ready to buy apples in mid-August?" With the apple crop a month earlier than normal, Nystrom said it also leads to questions about the quality of the apple crop. Apples rely on cool nights to reach the appropriate sugar content and develop the colors of Minnesota-grown apples. "I would doubt they would be the same as we would normally expect them," Nystrom said of the apples. "I won’t worry about that until later. It will be different."